"Roots In Kashmir" is an initiative launched by us, the Kashmiri Pandit Youth, to reclaim our Roots that identify us. Even though we have been hounded out of our homes and hearths in the Kashmir valley, our "Roots" are very much anchored in the Vitasta Valley. This is an initiative to protest and raise the general awareness of public to a level where our "fight for our roots" is felt, heard and acted upon.
www.rootsinkashmir.org

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

New Delhi/Jammu, May 6: Kashmiri Pandit organisations have challenged the recently reported J&K Police department report stating that only 209 Pandits have been killed in the Valley since 1989 and instead raised questions on the efficiency and intent of the state police force.-

Panun Kashmir convenor, Dr Agnishekhar calls the report ‘a dilution of the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus in the only Muslim majority state of secular India’. He goes on to say that international bodies like Amnesty and Asia Watch themselves have reported much larger numbers.

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“We would ask the state government to come out with the names and other particulars of the 209 deceased it quotes, that itself will be sufficient to come out with the truth".

-Panun Kashmir's 'Kashmir Documentation: Pandits In Exile' has a list of 319 Kashmiri Hindus killed in the period of 1989 to Oct. 1990. Along with the name of the person in almost all cases it mentions address of the victim, his/her profession and the date of killing. In a period of less than one year a community as small as Pandits lost 0.1% of its population, which forced them to flee.

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This report is also quoted by Roots In Kashmir, a youth initiative by Kashmiri Pandit youth, who say that the police report is a mere fabrication which is factually incorrect and raises serious questions on the efficiency of the state government and police force.

-Indeed, as these two organisations say, even laymen’s account of the whole genocide of that time easily goes to more than 1000.

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RIK also raises question about the accuracy of a report by a police force whose track record in convicting those responsible for various deaths has been dismal. In accordance to this, it has demanded a CBI probe into the number of Kashmiri Pandits killed by militants directly or due to the effects of militancy like death due to migration to areas with immense heat; high temperature and no resources etc.

'Roots in Kashmir' expresses its anger and rubbishes the report published by J&K police on Pandit killings. The report is a mere fabrication and apart from being factually incorrect, it raises a question mark on the efficiency of the police force.